Prior to teaching a three-week long Social Studies unit, I chose to pre-assess my first grade students through an interactive assessment piece. When presenting these slides to my students, I chose to call this assessment a ‘game,’ rather than a quiz. This not only helped elevate anxieties associated with test taking but, it also engaged my learners to higher levels.

As shown in the images, my students were provided a True/False assessment on their Google Slides. As a class, we read each of these statements, then the children predicted if they were True or False. After they decided their answers, they drug the text boxes to each statement. After completing the unit, we revisited the same assessment to help reflect on our overall growth throughout the lessons.

This was beneficial for my research of the classes performance because it proved how much they had learned over the course of three weeks. It also allowed time for myself to reflect on my own teaching. I found that this piece of assessment was most beneficial because it was posed as a ‘low stakes’ opportunity. My students were challenged; however, they were not anxious to be assessed at the beginning of the unit. I strongly feel that children learn and perform to their highest abilities when they are excited and engaged.